Tax the wealthy more

April 18, 2011

The April 8 letter to the editor, "Government collects too much of our taxes," gets things wrong. The writer believes that giving the super-rich still more money will grow the economy, but history is not on his side. In the decades when the rich had a smaller share of the nation's wealth, the economy grew very well.

When the rich controlled more of the economy than at any time in living memory, we entered the present Great Recession — a recession produced by the selfishness and incompetence of the millionaires. Growth of the economy comes from advances in engineering, science and technology — advances that come mostly from government investment.

The writer uses religion in support of his views, claiming that Jesus "didn't say give it to the government," but that is exactly what he did say (Matthew 22:17-21). It was the wealthy bankers (the moneychangers) Jesus attacked (Matthew 21:12), not the government.

Back to the main point: Any objective study of our present situation would lead to the conclusion that taxes must be increased, and in justice and fairness it is the rich whose taxes should be increased.